‘Booster Gold’: Is Zack Stentz Writing a DC Comics Movie? [Updated]

New rumors have surfaced today regarding the possible Booster Gold movie in development over at Warner Bros. Last September, we reported that DC TV super-producer Greg Berlanti was rumored to be an executive producer and possibly even a director on the picture. Along with Berlanti, fellow DC TV producer Sarah Schechter was also reported to be involved as an executive producer on the property. That’s about all the information we had at the time, and it all remains unconfirmed by either Warner Bros., DC Comics, or any of the creative folks involved.

However, thanks to a new interview from “Fat Man on Batman with Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin”, guest screenwriter Zack Stentz appeared to confirm the Booster Gold project, the creative team’s involvement with it, and more. To be sure, there’s a lot of speculation and reaching on the part of Cleats and Capes (via BMD), but it seems like some of the bits of information we’ve gleaned are starting to gel together.

Take a look and listen at the full “Fat Man on Batman” episode with Stentz below, or jump ahead to the five-minute mark to hear them all talk about the secret DC Comics / Warner Bros. project:

Whether you listened to the entire thing or just a small segment of it, you probably picked up on a few points: Stentz, who wrote the recent episode of The Flash titled “The Runaway Dinosaur”, copped to working on a hush-hush project with Berlanti and Schechter; Stentz was asked to write The Flash episode during downtime on this secret project (due to Berlanti’s child being born); the hosts know what’s coming and seem very excited about it, but aren’t telling; and some signs point to a movie instead of a TV show, like the fact that Stentz was admittedly getting back into writing for TV, suggesting he’d been in feature-writing mode.

Image via DC Comics/Dan Jurgens

With all of this TV talent gathered here, I’d be less surprised to hear about a Booster Gold TV series than I would be about a movie announcement. Stentz certainly has big-screen credits to his name, having written Agent Cody Banks, Thor, and X-Men: First Class, among other upcoming features and a number of TV series. Berlanti and Schechter, however, have been mainly working in TV space: Berlanti has producer credits on Green Lantern, Haunted, and Pan(with Schechter), has written The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy(which he also directed), Wrath of the Titans, and the aforementioned Green Lantern. There’s a lot more Green Lantern in there than I’m comfortable with, and not a lot of other good movies to make up for it.

The TV side, however, has been fantastic, with a lot owed to Berlanti and Schechter as part of the incredible team of producers. The question now is, where would a Booster Gold property fit best? In the DC Cinematic Universe, Booster’s charisma, time-traveling Tony Stark-like origins, and generally more light-hearted behavior could brighten up the current line-up of the Justice League. Warner Bros. did just shift an Untitled DC Comics Film back a couple of weeks in the summer of 2020; it was presumed to be a slot for the Green Lantern Corps film, but perhaps it’s for a Booster Gold flick instead?

A Booster Gold TV series still makes more sense. In fact, Syfy ordered one from Berlanti and screenwriter/producer Andrew Kreisberg just a few years ago, but nothing came of it, as far as we know. Then again, that was before the success of The CW’s superhero series Arrow and The Flash, so maybe the plan is to fold Booster Gold into friendly TV territory. It’s already been mentioned through Easter eggs in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and the comics themselves have a pretty important tie-in to that show. For my money, the stage is fairly well set for a Booster Gold TV show but a feature film would be a riskier proposition no matter how you look at it. I can’t imagine that Warner Bros. is in a hurry to drop hundreds of millions of dollars on an unproven film when it can test the waters on TV for a relative fraction of the price and risk.

Update: In a chat with THR, Berlanti confirmed that a Booster Gold movie is in the works over at Warner Bros. and that Stentz is indeed writing the script. Berlanti also threw his hat into the ring to direct the film, but that decision ultimately doesn’t rest with him. Here’s what Berlanti had to say about Booster Gold, but be sure to check out the interview with THR for more on the DC TV universe:

Image via Warner Bros.

If Warner Bros. TV executives asked you to be the Kevin Feige — who is the creative mastermind of Marvel — of the DC Cinematic Universe, what would you say?

It’s never even really come up. Peter [Roth, president of Warner Bros. TV] knows how much I love the characters, and I like being part of this universe in any way that they’ll all allow and are interested in me being a part. That’s the truth. I’m attached to a few films [at Warner Bros.] now, and one, Booster Gold, is a DC property. Zack Stentz, who wrote an episode of Flash last year, just got the job, so he’s writing the script now. I’d probably direct that, or I would want to. But I don’t see my cup as limited. I actually think some of the stuff we get to do on the TV side is richer, deeper and more like the true comic books in the sense that you’re always able to explore a new thing the next week and the stories grow wider and wider.

What haven’t you done that you’d like to do?

I definitely want to direct more. Film directing’s a lot like showrunning. The thing that I probably enjoy the most and also am the best at in whatever art form I’m working in is being the protector of the emotional experience of the audience. Also, I’m a dad now, and I’m starting to think about my life differently in terms of how much time I’m going to have. When you direct a film, you have a couple years between movies, and I’d have more time to be with my family.

Would you rather have a Booster Gold film, TV show, both, or neither? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

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